The Itineraries Draw Plenty of Families and Father-Son Duos
Dining in the fantail on Mist Cove (Photo: Chris Gray Faust)
The Boat Company is owned by the McIntosh Foundation, a family-run charitable organization that has its roots in the A&P grocery store fortune. The cruise line’s founder, the late Michael McIntosh, fell in love with Alaska while working on a fishing boat to supply a family-run cannery; his son, Hunter McIntosh, is still the president of The Boat Company and sails on one of the ships at least once per season.
The Boat Company’s original passengers were very targeted guests that could donate to the McIntosh Foundation’s environmental projects, and the ship still draws a certain type that wealth managers would euphemistically call “high net worth individuals.” That’s partially because of the price tag – cabins on the boats start at $11,900 per person ($18,000 for a single) for the weeklong cruise.
Guests drinking port after dinner on Mist Cove (Photo: Chris Gray Faust)
And it’s also based on the experience itself, which came with more than a twinge of prep. On our sailing, at least two passengers had III after their last names; references to New England and British boarding schools were made. Plummy Southern accents dominated. The boat’s salon carried a clubby air, with worn leather sofas, dark tartan plaid chairs and an open self-serve bar heavy on scotch and whiskey. We took all our meals at a single table set up in the boat’s enclosed fantail; afterward, guests would retire for cigars on the top deck or port on the main level.
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Couple hiking in Alaska on a Mist Cove cruise (Photo:Chris Gray Faust)
While this could be pretentious, I found my cruise anything but. Father-son duos (and the wives, daughters, sisters and fiancés who loved them) made up the bulk of the passengers on my sailing; the vibe leaned male. It was sweet to see the family bonding take place, particularly among men who might ordinarily stay taciturn outside a sporting environment.
What I liked about the couples and families on The Boat Company is that no one stayed clannish. One man from North Carolina, on his third Mist Cove cruise, almost served as the ship’s mayor; although he was with his wife, son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law, he made it a point to include every passenger in the conversation. Another family came together from Maine, Florida and New Hampshire to bond, yet they too were enthusiastic group cheerleaders.
Polar plunge from an Alaskan beach with Mist Cove (Photo: Chris Gray Faust)
I joined that family’s 40something siblings, along with a few fellow 50somethings in Mist Cove’s famed polar plunge. Led by the youngest member of the crew, Annie Haglin, we were driven by skiff to a rocky beach in Hamas Bay, which gave us some time to psych ourselves up.
Laying our ship-provided towels on a long log, we shucked down to bathing suits and shorts, socks and water shoes. As a group, we charged into the bay, laughing and screaming as the chilly Alaska water hit us.
Celebratory whiskey after an Alaskan polar plunge with Mist Cove (Photo: Chris Gray Faust)
Once out, we celebrated our bravery with shots of Bulleit 95, a “frontier whiskey” that seemed oh-so appropriate for our week onboard Mist Cove.
The first Jesuit missionaries in Alaska sailed up the Yukon River in 1887. By the turn of the 20th century, the religious order of the Catholic Church had as many as 50 Jesuits in the state.
Now, only two remain. And by the end of June, there will be none.
The Jesuits’ nearly 140 years in the state was honored at an event at Bethel’s Immaculate Conception Church on June 16. A procession of priests wearing long white gowns with red hems walked down the aisle to open the event. The Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Stephen Maekawa, thumped the ground with a shimmering silver staff known as a clozier as he approached the altar.
Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Steven Maekawa, walks toward the altar at the Immaculate Conception Church in Bethel.
“My brothers and sisters, we gather together to celebrate this wonderful and blessed occasion to acknowledge the love of God and the work of God through the 139 year mission of the Society of Jesus of the Jesuit fathers,” Maekawa said to open the event.
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A traditional Catholic mass followed, with readings in both English and Yup’ik. During the sermon, Maekawa acknowledged the vastness of the Fairbanks diocese, and the tremendous amount of work done by the Jesuits to establish it.
“All of the 46 churches of the Diocese of Fairbanks that we currently have were established by either the Jesuit fathers or by direction of a Jesuit bishop,” Maekawa said. “We have a long history of the Society of Jesus’ presence and ministry here in all of Alaska.”
The Jesuits are an order within the Catholic Church, akin to the Dominicans or Franciscans. They have a reputation for taking on some of the Catholic Church’s most remote assignments.
That missionary spirit brought the Jesuits to the Yukon River in 1887, where they built churches, schools, and ministries. Without their work, Catholicism may not have taken root in huge swaths of Alaska, particularly among Alaska Native communities.
The Immaculate Conception Church in Bethel.
But the Jesuits leave a complicated legacy. Their methods of converting Native people to the religion, particularly in the first half of the 20th century, created generational traumas still felt to this day.
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Fr. Sean Carroll is the provincial of the Jesuits West Province, which oversees Alaska and nine other states.
Fr. Sean Carroll, provincial of the Jesuits West Province, speaks at an event recognizing nearly 140 years of Jesuit service in Alaska.
“Thank you for all that you have taught us about who Jesus is and how to love and serve Him wholeheartedly,” Carroll said. “I also thank you for your patience with us. For there have been times when we have sinned and when we have hurt you.”
Missionaries, including the Jesuits, forcefully converted and assimilated Alaska Native people into Western culture and religion. Students at Jesuit-run boarding schools were forced to abandon their Native languages and physically punished when caught speaking languages other than English. Native dancing and drumming were also banned.
The Jesuits West Province maintains a list of 150 Jesuits with credible claims of sexual abuse against minors or vulnerable adults. A quarter of the accused Jesuits served in Alaska at some point in time.
“I ask for your forgiveness for all that we have done that was not rooted in Christ and love for Him, and for when we did not value your culture nor recognize the presence of God in you,” Carroll said.
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Carroll gave the order to withdraw from the state last spring. A big issue was the recruitment of Jesuits willing to travel and serve in remote villages. He told the congregation that the Jesuits’ work would continue, just without a permanent presence.
Fr. Rich Magner, one of the two remaining Jesuit priests in Alaska, attends a ceremony in Bethel.
Fr. Rich Magner is one of the two remaining Jesuit priests in Alaska. His last day serving Chevak, Hooper Bay, and Scammon Bay is June 30.
“We all always knew coming in, or should have known, that we’re not going to be here forever. It’s going to be mission accomplished at some point,” Magner said. “And then we hand it off to the diocese that we’ve helped create, and so that’s a good feeling.”
Magner’s next stop is a Clinical Pastoral Education residency in Tacoma, Washington.
The other remaining priest, Fr. Tom Provinsal, first came to Alaska in 1968 to teach. A fond memory, he said, was meeting Elders that practiced traditional subsistence lifestyles.
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“Some of the grandmothers, their fingers were just all bent with arthritis and stuff like that, you know, their whole lives they’ve been working out in the cold and the wet, doing food, sewing, all that kind of stuff,” Provinsal said. “I’d say I just feel very privileged to have come when I did come and to see that.”
Provinsal returned in 1975 as a priest and has served in the region ever since. After moving away, he plans to take a five month sabbatical. What happens next, he said, is in God’s hands.
Two lines formed in the aisle for communion at the end of the mass. After taking communion, Bethel’s Parish Administrator Susan Murphy gave a final thank you.
“It’s difficult to say goodbye to people who have been a part of our lives for so long,” Murphy said. “We know that you have done what was yours to do, and have taught us to do what is ours to do. We are grateful.”
Jesuit priests form a row along the altar of Bethel’s Immaculate Conception Church as members of the congregation lift their arms and pray.
Dominic Hunt, a Yup’ik deacon that flew in from Emmonak for the event, led the congregation through a final prayer.
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“Bless them with your wisdom, that they may be a word of hope, a world in need. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen,” Hunt said.
About 70 people posed for a photo on the altar – priests, deacons, parishioners, Elders and children — many of them smiling, some standing quietly.
The photo doesn’t tell the whole story. But it’s a moment when gratitude, grief, and memory all shared the same room.
Bishop of the Diocese of Fairbanks, Steven Maekawa, stands in the middle of a crowd waiting to take a photo at Bethel’s Immaculate Conception Church.
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Supreme Court of Alaska will be taking up the case of the State of Alaska, Division of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.
The oral arguments will be held Monday at 10 a.m. via Zoom, according to an order and opening notice.
The document also specifies that a decision is expected to be made before noon on Tuesday.
According to documents from the Division of Elections, the state must start printing ballots at noon on the same day.
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This comes after an Anchorage Superior Court Judge ordered Dan J. Sullivan on to the ballot Friday.
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